One of the more relevant releases at this year's Frankfurt motorshow is the next-generation Hyundai i30, which will see the Korean brand revitalise the model that brought it into its current good fortune.

82,900 first-generation Hyundai i30s have been sold in Australia already and more than 360,000 in Europe, so the succes of the new model is paramount to the company's ongoing success story.

From a design perspective Hyundai has stuck with its current ‘fluidic sculpture’ design DNA, which means the new i30 is now firmly in place amongst the i45, ix35 and the i40 wagon family. It's also hard to miss the familiar hexagonal-shaped grille.

Europeans will have a choice of four engines with six different power options to pick for their Czech built i30s, details for Australian delivered models (likely to be soured from South Korea) are to be decided before the car's arrival mid 2012.

The new Hyundai i30 has increased in size, now measuring 4300 mm long and 1780 mm wide, but its height has been reduced to 1470mm which sees it sit wider but with a lower centre of gravity.

The European delivered models will have the option of Hyundai’s new Flex Steer™ which provides three operating modes – Comfort, Normal and Sport – to help fine-tune your driving experience.

The system actively changes the level of steering assistance and feedback to allow for a more engaging drive (sport) when needed or for maximum usability when you're stuck in traffic (comfort).

A 7-inch touch-screen with Satelite Navigation will be available for European markets and we suspect it will flow through in one shape or form to the Australian market as well.

Hyundai will fit all the expected active safety features (ESP, ABS, VSM) as well as Emergency Stop Signal and six airbags as standard kit. A driver's knee airbag is available as an option. The Korean giant expects the new i30 to retain the same maximum five-star safety rating as the model it replaces.

All new Hyundai i30s will have their power delivered via a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic, which is a major improvement over the current model's five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.

It's very likely that we will see both high output 1.6-litre diesel (94kW - 260Nm) and petrol (99kW - 164 Nm) engines for the Australian market with a potential entry model powered by a 1.4-litre petrol (which is only available as a manual).

Technical specifications - 2012 Hyundai i30 (final figures for Australian-spec vehicles to be confirmed at time of launch)